Category Archives: Running

Through the 8mph barrier

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The new shoes are working…

8 miles yesterday and cracked the elusive 8mph barrier (or more accurately 3.57632 m/s).  And beat it by a whole 1 minute 25 seconds.  8 miles in 58 minutes 35 seconds – and what a nice run.  16 seconds per mile faster than back in December last year.  And my first run in the new Adizero shoes…

As well as being able to spot me running a mile away now and glowing in the dark, they do feel much lighter and pretty comfortable.

A 5km run today and 27 seconds faster than my most recent best time – just over 21 minutes.  The 20 minute goal is within site once again!

Obviously it’s back to speed work this week.  10 miles or interval training tomorrow – to be decided still – and then 1/2 marathon at the weekend.

Happy running!


London Marathon mileage count

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My 22 week training programme started on 21st November officially – and I’ve been doing 3 or 4 runs per week, plus 1 or 2 karate sessions per week (my cross training).  Up until mid-September my running schedule was 8 x 3.2 mile sessions per week (my commutes) at a slow pace – all the same, nothing pushing me; not great.

As of today the marathon training total is just under 368 miles, an average of 28 miles per week.  By a complete fluke, my total for the same period back in 2009 was virtually the same – literally to within a mile or 2.  Very different plans – far more focused on quality runs this time, and less just on mileage.

Longer run breakdown so far:

  • 1 x 18 miles
  • 1 x 17 miles
  • 1 x 16 miles
  • 1 x 13.1 miles
  • 1 x 12 miles
  • 1 x 11 miles
  • 10 x 10 miles

And my favourite distance is 10 miles – by a mile!

Runners nipples – ouch…

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Forget tennis elbow, runners nipple is an official long distance running injury and it hurts.  It even has it’s own Wikipedia entry – under the official title “Fissure of the nipple“.

The first time you get it, you’ve no idea until you’ve finished running and look down at your t-shirt and see the blood.  And then it hurts (and even more when you get a shower afterwards).  All being well you’re not wearing a white running top.

For men it’s even more frustrating, why should they bleed?  They seem to have no purpose or use but they still bleed and hurt – rubbish.

Once you start building up the mileage (runs an hour or longer or thereabouts) you’re into runners nipple territory and a little prep before your runs help big time.  Good old Vaseline helps and for me 90% of the time stops it happening.  Longer runs just mean more Vaseline.  And worst case it doesn’t happen as bad.

You can buy – more expensive – branded goods like “Body Glide” and they work just as well, and according to the labels are better than plain Vaseline.  Personal preference really.  Some theories about one reacting to cold and water worse but I’ve never noticed.  You can even go as far as nipple covers or guards, small plasters, though these can move and come off.  For ladies, good sports bras can really help.  Decent running tops help as well – as the materials don’t rub as much.

On the London Marathon route, the helpers – including 1st aiders – around the course, have jars of Vaseline to use as you run round.

Not a dangerous running injury as such but can be painful so a bit of prep before your run is well worthwhile.

And yes you can even get the fridge magnets…

How long is long? And the wall…

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Now it’s time for the long runs – the staple of any marathon training programme.  But how long is long?  Lots of theories out there and most suggest not running the full 26.2 miles before the big day.  I’m not sure on this on yet – going from 23 to 26.2 last time was a huge huge jump (for me at least).

Back in 2009 I got up to 23 miles and felt great after.  3 runs over 20 miles in total.  This time the plan is 3 or maybe 4 over 20 miles and the longest as 24 or even 26 – TBC.  The added challenge with the long runs is where to go for that distance.  Richmond Park was a  favourite before – and is for others – but it has lots of  steep) hills.  Maybe a good thing.

Longish run tally for training so far is:

  • 1 x 15 miles
  • 2 x 16 miles
  • 1 x 17 miles

Tomorrow is the first longer one – 18 miles.  And the plan is to go at a slowish pace, up past Hampton Court.  Should be nice – that’s another great route with some top scenery.

The official word on long runs – care of Runners World – is…

“The long run is the staple of every distance runner’s diet. If you’re training for a marathon, it’s de rigeur. Novice runners use them as springboards to the finish line, and elite marathon runners do multiple long runs to improve their times.”

For more information on why, what and how – take a look at Runners’ World.

And it’s all about getting used to the distance and running for that length of time and your body adjusting to how it gets it’s energy and preparing for the dreaded “Wall”…

We might have a result…

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New Brooks shoes and new in-soles tested tonight for the first time and all good.  A very nice 10 mile run along my favourite route.  Great first 5 miles but then the actual turn around – to come back along the same route – seems to slow the pace down.  Very strange.  Not a bad overall time but could have been better.

Long 18 mile run planned next this coming weekend – haven’t decided the route yet – and may give the new Adizero shoes a try.

QR codes in shoes?

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Whatever next?  In the shoe at the back of the in-sole.  Only spotted them when I took the new Brooks shoes off tonight after my run…

Had to scan it as soon as I spotted it but tried to scan it with the QRReader iPhone app with no success – shadows kept getting in the way.  Genius Mrs. Noble – who was busy sorting out the gorgeous roses I’d got her for Valentine’s Day (care of good old M&S) – suggested taking the in-soles out…  kind of obvious really.

In-soles out, app ready, QR code scanned… where does it go to?  Brooks FaceBook page with a “like” button right there and a competition to win an iPad2 – not bad, a clever idea.

Sore-ish feet in the meantime after an 8 mile run in the new shoes – but new shoes so expected.  Longest run in the training so far coming this weekend – 18 miles.

Who needs new shoes?

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After a month or so running with the new shoes and new in-soles, painful feet and blisters forced me to re-assess.  A quick trip back to the physio, who just said the shoes are too loose and then a few more runs with them tied up better, but still not good.  Back to good old Sweatshop in Teddington today and with their fantastic 30 day returns on shoes (after you’ve tried them as much as you want).  A long chat with one of the guys there and trying on new shoes, and back to Brooks, that just feel far far better on my feet – it’s so comfortable when you put your feet in them.  And then a chat about marathons and the guy serving me (Tim) being very modest about his own one-time marathon run of 2 hours 35 minutes!  Awesomeness right in front of me.  That’s 26.2 miles at less than 6 minutes per mile.  Unbelievable.  Now I’m listening even more to this guy – some good training tips as well from him (including doing speed running as I’ve been doing).  Then a suggestion from Tim on looking at lighter shoes – as well – to use for actually running the marathon in.  Something I’d never thought of.  Tried on a pair of bright yellow Adidas Adizero ones – and you can’t feel these shoes on your feet.  So nice.  Plan is to do the longer pace runs in these ones.

A very productive trip to Sweatshop and thanks to their 30 day guarantee and great service, I got better shoes, another pair (some more socks) and paid more money but all happy.

4 good runs this week.  8 miles to start and then 9 miles the next day (at a faster pace) and then 10 the next (slightly slower).  Really enjoying the 10 mile distance as well.  And then a 4.5 miler on Saturday with first 5km fast (not as fast as recently though – being about -5 degrees C didn’t help).  3 planned this week with an 18 miler long one.

 

 

The 5 second rule

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Drop food on the floor and if you pick it up within 5 seconds it’s safe or is it…

It might be an urban myth – that you have 5 seconds to pick up and eat food that has been dropped on the floor before it picks up germs and stuff – but when running, knocking 5 seconds off your time feels very good.

29 miles in total done this week and in new shoes with new in-soles (orthotics).  10 miles on Monday – 3 loops around the “block” (first time I’ve done loops like that) and not a bad run.  4 on  Thursday – fast – about 15 seconds slower for the 5km faster bit (but late at night and after a long day’s work so all good).  And then 15 today – a great first 8 miles and then slowed a bit for the next 5 and then a faster finish.  Along past the Thames in Twickenham and up to a busy Richmond Park for a bit – with a lot of other runners about.  You can tell it’s marathon training time!  And yes Richmond Park is still as hilly as it was a couple of years back – it’s the home of my longer (20+ mile runs).

New shoes this week – on recommendation of the foot biomechanics physio.  And nice shoes as well – ASICS Cumulus 13.  New in-soles from the physio in them as well (Vectorthotics), custom fit for me.  Have 3 sets for running, work shoes and one spare just in case.  Combination of all this new stuff and longer runs this week means sore feet – running it all in.  May need a bit of fine tuning from the physio on them but not too bad today on the 15 mile one.  And it’s not plantar fasciitis as diagnosed by the doctor (see post from last year) a few weeks back – it’s dodgy shaped feet.  Makes me feel so much better, but with these in-soles in all my shoes it should be sorted.

Fund raising needs to get kickstarted again now – your help is needed here.  Go to my Just Giving page to donate.  Only 12 weeks to go.  Some creative ideas from Mrs. Noble including cupcakes for everyone and homemade romantic Valentine’s cards.  Stay tuned…

4 runs planned this next week and back over 30 miles (over the full week).

Pacing it – 25 miles this week

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Not as many miles as originally planned this week.  The plan was 3 runs of 12, 14 and 6 miles (with the first 2 at marathon pace and the last as faster interval training).  Got off to a good start with 12 miles on Monday at the right pace but had left it too late on Wednesday to do 14 miles so settled for 8 instead (but slower).  And then 5 miles fast (ish) on Thursday evening – all wrapped up and with new running socks like DVT socks (not convinced about these yet – more testing needed).

Do need rethink long runs and how many to do per week and how much time between them.  The plan was to start like this week – with a longish one at the beginning of the week and then the real long one mid-week and then move to one long one on Saturdays over the next month or so.  The 2 mid-week ones are not really practical (and it’s not as much fun running when it’s dark) and don’t leave enough time between them and I need to concentrate on running at pace.  So it’s back to the drawing board and update the plan this weekend.

Running for charity – help needed

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A quick reminder what the London Marathon is all about – raising money for charity.  It is probably the biggest running event in the world, is definitely the biggest fund raising event in the world and has raised over £450 million for a range of great causes since 1981.  That’s an amazing amount of money raised for good causes.  Participants raise around £50 million in each event every year now and over 75% of the people running are doing it for charity.

These are some pretty amazing facts and really add to the experience on the day.  Running with over 36,000 other people (and this number grows every year), some in fancy dress, some out to break world records, with professional athletes and with the best crowd and city sights in the world to see, is nothing short of an awesome experience.

Whilst I’m not doing it in fancy dress, I’m still aiming to raise as much money as possible for Whizz-Kidz, through donations from friends, family and others who are kind enough to donate to this good cause, Christmas carol singing with the guys from Whizz-Kidz, a karate club kickathon (everyone doing as many kicks as they can in 2 hours with prizes for the ones doing the most and the best techniques) and more.

Some really important facts about what Whizz-Kidz do are below:

  • There are 70,000 disabled kids in the UK waiting for the right wheelchair.  In some cases kids as old as nine are still being pushed around in a toddler’s buggy simply because they do not have timely access to the equipment they need.
  • It costs on average 3 times as much to raise a disabled child as a non-disabled child and Whizz-Kidz will provide 1,200 wheelchairs and adapted trikes this year.
  • Disabled young people are over twice as likely as their non-disabled peers not to be in education, employment or training.  Whizz-Kidz will provide over 100 work placements this year.
  • Whizz-Kidz will deliver Wheelchair Skills Training to over 700 disabled kids this year.

The money we raise for them goes to helping all these children live much more active lives – something we all take for granted.

So how can you help?  One donation is all it takes.  A big big thank you to everyone who’s made a donation so far.  If you’d like to make a donation just go to http://www.justgiving.com/jasonnoble1 and follow the instructions.

You can also make a guess at how long it will take me to finish and be in with the chance of winning a bottle of bubbly.  To make a guess go to my Guessability page.

And of course if you’d prefer to donate with good old fashioned cash or a cheque, let me know and I’ll give you details on how to get it to me.

My fund raising target is an ambitious £3,000 and I need your help to get there!

Next post about running this week…